Self Care and Servant Leadership: How to Survive and Thrive Working with the Homeless

Organized by non-profit Saffron Strand, Inc., the 7th Annual Homeless Workforce Conference, June 13-14, in Richmond, California, provides specialized training for those who work with the homeless and other vulnerable people. Both professionals and volunteers need to overcome compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and PTSD in order to better help their clients and lead their organizations to greater...

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Organized by non-profit Saffron Strand, Inc., the 7th Annual Homeless Workforce Conference, June 13-14, in Richmond, California, provides specialized training for those who work with the homeless and other vulnerable people. Both professionals and volunteers need to overcome compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and PTSD in order to better help their clients and lead their organizations to greater effectiveness in reducing homelessness and poverty.

Richmond, California (PRWEB) May 05, 2016

"If your organization serves vulnerable populations, like the homeless," says Matt Bennett, MBA, MA, "there's a high risk of employee burnout and other dysfunction, especially for frontline workers. But if you can create a culture of wellness, then employee health and resilience recovers and employees are better able to perform their duties."

Bennett is chief innovation officer at the Coldspring Center for Health and Innovation in Denver, CO. He is a keynote speaker on “Creating a Culture of Wellness” at Saffron Strand’s 7th Annual Homeless Workforce Conference -- "Working with the Homeless: How to Survive & Thrive in the Trenches” -- June 13-14, 2016 at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium in Richmond, CA.

Patricia Falotico, CEO of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership in Atlanta, GA also is a keynote speaker who focuses on "How Frontline Workers Can Become Effective and Inspiring Servant Leaders."

Servant leaders constantly ask: Are those we serve growing as persons? Are they becoming healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to serve others? Servant leadership puts the service relationship first, not the leadership relationship, which is a new way of working with the homeless. But it is a natural and effective form of leadership for anyone working with vulnerable populations.

"Working with the Homeless" features other national and San Francisco Bay Area authorities to explore strategy, policy, and programming to ensure the wellness and performance of those who work with the homeless and other vulnerable populations. Helping at risk youth is especially traumatic. So the Conference has a special emphasis on supporting those who work with homeless, runaway, and foster care youth, helping them enter or re-enter the workforce.

The 2016 Homeless Workforce Conference is a unique national forum that provides specialized training and continuing education for those working in the fields of employment, health care, and housing services. The Conference helps program managers, civic leaders, and anyone assisting the homeless, hard-to-employ, and long-term unemployed. The overarching goal is to empower the homeless and those at risk of homelessness to re-enter the workforce for the long term.